My cousin Constancio "Jake" Gregorio passed away this morning at 58 years old.
Kuya as I call him was my number one fan... he simply adored everything I did in life as early when I was in College. My nickname was actually from him and his brother, Diko Francis who re-christened me because there were too many "Juns" in the neighborhood as well as school. They took half my real name and added an "e", hence the name Casie.
Kuya Jake and I used to spend a lot of time together just chatting away about everything under the sun. At times I feel uncomfortable with the fact that my opinion seems to matter too much to him despite the fact that I know that I am not always right. Nevertheless, he held me in very high regard.
He was my smoking buddy, my drinking buddy and my real life chat mate. Early this year, he decided to quit smoking and in my twisted sense of reality, I jokingly said that the sudden stop will kill him. Four months later he was hospitalized... this year he was in and out of the hospital. Up until recently his recovery seemed progressive, until yesterday... he was Kuya to me, Tatay to his children, GP (Grandpa) to his grand children, Jake or Chito to his friends and a good man to many...
Thank you for everything, Kuya... I will miss you and our conversations...
No comments:
Post a Comment